Will Dawkins liking huge strides from Bilal Coulibaly and Deni Avdija | The Sports Junkies

Will Dawkins liking huge strides from Bilal Coulibaly and Deni Avdija | The Sports Junkies

will give us your feedback on kali’s rookie year it’s still kind of hard to wrap my brain around the fact that he already has a full season of the NBA under his belt and he’s not even 20 yet turns 20 in Late July average eight and a half points shot 43% from the field I think he was 34% from three-point land uh yeah you know he learned a lot as a rookie what did you think of his rookie campaign yeah I think the first part with him is his ability to transition into a pro was faster than I think anyone thought him as a person and a leader and a worker he took strides in that from the very beginning and we’re very happy that he’s going to be someone that’s like setting and displaying what a Wizards player going to be for a long time I think we all saw the measurables we all saw the defense right away pop and his fearlessness to guard the best player on the other end Midway through the season we kind of moved him into the starting lineup and there were games where we said listen this is for your development whoever the best offensive player is on the time that’s on the floor that time you’re guarding him so I remember one quarter where he had Booker then Durant then Beal and it was like you got to know what all three of them are doing and try to take some stuff away so he really grew his willingness and desire to learn and be a good teammate and really get after it defensively we’re excited about that I think offensively he made some strides the next thing we’ll see is putting the ball in his hands um but obviously he had that injury at the end of the season he’s back he’s working right now he’s already back in DC um from his time here at the combine help helping us get number two so it’s going to be a big summer for him um but the other thing is just physically the strides he’ll be able to make this summer being in the weight room and really having a full summer to work on his body the guy’s already grown an inch since we drafted him like he’s still growing in physically he’s going to be a monster how tall is he now at least 69ine wow um I didn’t I didn’t grow past like 14 man how’s this guy still grow he’s so 20 I got ripped off will exactly patience in taking the young guys that pays off yeah so talking about this team we know it’s a long-term rebuild kind of like you did in Oklahoma City and they’re in a 22 Series against the Dallas Mavericks but you can see all the young Talent thriving now in Oklahoma City and that’s what you want to do here in Washington you inherited Denny but I think Denny took a step up is he one of the leaders if not the leader of this team you moving forward yeah I always like to say um the leader is the person doing the right thing at the right time so everyone has an opportunity to lead and when we met with Denny the summer he talked about um transforming his game and putting the ball in his hands a little bit more and then also having more of a voice in the locker room and to his credit he took some major strides um this season his his demeanor his physicality his ability to put it on the deck and then his shooting he just became a lot more consistent with that so of all our guys that took massive jumps in their player developments this season I think Denny’s one of the guys that really embraced it and took one of the larger steps especially when guys went down we got to see him kind of play with the ball a little bit more and experiment there and he was focused and really durable this season because he took a pounding so then he had a really good year and he definitely one of those guys that helped lead us within the locker room when people can’t really see that

Will Dawkins joins the Sports Junkies to reflect on Bilal Coulibaly’s impressive rookie year and discusses the leadership role Deni Avdija earned with the Wizards.

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Will Dawkins liking huge strides from Bilal Coulibaly and Deni Avdija | The Sports Junkies